What Does Fuzzy Search Mean?

A fuzzy search process is one that applies search algorithms in a more lenient way than hard search algorithms that only match specific and rigid results. Fuzzy search can be much more effective for some kinds of searches, because although it may turn out less relevant search results, it may also turn out highly relevant search results that would have been screened out by an excessively rigid search algorithm.

For example, in a rigid search, a user may enter a word like “animal.” While the rigid search will only look for instances of “animal,” a fuzzy search will add the plural form, “animals,” or other similar search terms, or may look for results that have been misspelled or differently punctuated.